All About Health

In June, five Monroe County nursing homes and a sixth facility serving rural counties announced an agreement to provide shelter beds to elderly victims of abuse.

St. Ann’s, the Episcopal Church Home, the Friendly Home, the Jewish Home of Rochester and St. John’s are participating in Monroe, and the Hurlbut Care Communities will provide beds in its homes in Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca and Steuben counties.

As of late October, there had been two possible referrals — one man and one woman — but both individuals refused the beds. In at least one case, officials are hopeful that the person will accept the bed.

The local program is among the few in the country, and particularly special because of the collaboration.

In Ohio, a Jewish long-term care facility was reported to be the first in the Midwest to provide a bed for seniors in crisis. Cedar Village Retirement Community Center serves elders in five counties around Cincinnati and Dayton. Its Shalom Center provides crisis management for three to four months.

The report in the October/November issue of Hadassah magazine did not say how many people have been helped.

But if the local situation is any indication, it may not be serving enough people who are in need.

For more information about the Monroe and neighboring program, call Lifespan’s Elder Abuse Prevention Program at (585) 244-8400, ext. 110.

The New York State Coalition on Elder Abuse, administered by Lifespan, has a new website with comprehensive information for professionals, victims and their families. For more, click here.

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About this blog

Patti Singer

Health Reporter

Being healthy means that you’ll be in good shape if you get sick. That may sound odd, but think about it. We may not be able to prevent every illness, but if we can delay it, minimize it and recover quickly, we can get back to our lives. That’s the beauty of a healthy lifestyle – what I call wellness insurance.

I’m fascinated by how we define health and what we do to achieve and keep that physical, emotional and spiritual sense.

I used to be a sports writer. I joined the Democrat and Chronicle in 1985 to write about the Rochester Red Wings and wouldn’t trade that experience for an infinite number of first-round draft choices. I moved from sports to features in 1991, and wrote about personal health, travel and general topics. I joined the metro staff in July 2009 to focus on health.

I am certified as a personal trainer and I earned a master’s degree in education from The College at Brockport, where I teach an undergrad course in contemporary health issues and a grad course in health communication.